


4 Languages Daniel Does Not Speak and One He Learned

by zats_clear



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: 5 Things, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-08-09
Updated: 2011-08-09
Packaged: 2017-10-22 10:33:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/237151
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/zats_clear/pseuds/zats_clear





	4 Languages Daniel Does Not Speak and One He Learned

Daniel Jackson knew 23 languages.  Perhaps he stretched the truth a little, some of those languages having not been spoken aloud in centuries, but he thought he could reasonably lay claim to 23 if he included Goa’uld and rudimentary Unas.  And, of course, the year on Abydos hearing and speaking one of those unspoken languages gave him a smug certainty that he really was at the top of his game.  But there were languages that Daniel could not understand.

 

 **ASL**  – Although he greatly admired the importance of this way of communicating among the deaf, it had no place in his studies or his pursuits.  It would never have helped him get his point across on the Planet of Funky Flowering Plants, Pissiness and Migraines nor would it have been useful while negotiating between Chaka and the enslaved Unas.  So he let that one lie.

 

 **Klingon**  – Many of his peers in the Linguistics Department found learning Klingon to be both an intriguing exercise in language studies and an outlet for their Trekkie tendencies.  Daniel disagreed.  While his slight stature, floppy hair and long-lashed blue eyes magnified by wire-rimmed glasses made getting laid almost ridiculously easy, those same qualities women found so appealing (in a  _“take him home and give him what he needs"_  kind of way) also left him vulnerable to the testosterone-fueled, homophobic wildings of the insecure male population.  Really, it just wasn’t worth the effort. 

 

 **The Victorian Language of Flowers**  – Secretly, Daniel always felt this to be a contrived method of torturing men with their inability to read women, like the elaborate dances of Valentine’s Day, in which he stumbled spectacularly while dating Sarah.  By the time he finally met a woman for whom learning this language would have been worthwhile…well, desert flowers, like his time with Sha’re, were too fleeting and precious to waste on definition and interpretation.

 

 **Doublespeak**   _\- Language deliberately constructed to disguise or distort its actual[meaning](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Meaning_%28linguistic%29), often resulting in a [communication bypass](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bypassing). (Wikipedia)_   When he first joined the Stargate Program, doublespeak was not Daniel’s forte.  He repeatedly demonstrated his inability to lie convincingly, in situations where a little white one would surely be applauded.   But years of exposure to governmental euphemisms, military jargon and Jack O’Neill allowed him to speak the truth in a manner guaranteed to confuse and infuriate friend and foe alike. 

 

 **Body Language**  – Daniel most certainly did not speak body language effectively.  If he did, he would realize the baffling mish-mash of signals he transmitted.  The fumbling of pens, hands in pockets, head down, looking up through his lashes while rapidly blinking  _batting_  his eyes all belied the stubborn, arrogant, son-of-a-bitch within.  If he actually understood body language, Daniel might have wondered at Jack’s need to touch, well, everyone.  More to the point, he might have understood the significance when Jack stopped. 


End file.
